snowball

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A ball of snow pressed together in your hands, often thrown for fun.

   The kids threw snowballs at each other in the park.

2. 2
   verb

   To grow quickly and get bigger or more serious, often out of control.

   A small disagreement snowballed into a major argument.

From Middle English snoweball, snoweballe, snaweballe, snayballe, equivalent to snow + ball. Cognate with Scots snawbaw, German Schneeball, Luxembourgish Schnéiball, Dutch sneeuwbal, Afrikaans sneeubal, Limburgish snieëbal, West Frisian sniebal, Saterland Frisian Sneebaal, Sneebal, Swedish snöboll, Elfdalian sniųoboll, Danish snebold, Norwegian Bokmål snøball, Norwegian Nynorsk snøball and Icelandic snjóbolti.

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